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Loading... 85aby Kyle Thomas Smith
   None No current Talk conversations about this book.  blakefraina | Aug 17, 2011 |    This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers. ) sublunarie | Jun 8, 2011 |  ) goldnuggets | Feb 9, 2011 | )1  PaulZak | Jan 27, 2011 | This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers. ) afyfe | Jan 25, 2011 |
chicagotribune.com "85A" by Kyle Thomas Smith A Chicago teenager yearns for a life in London Courtney Crowder Tribune Reporter 12:56 PM CST, November 19, 2010 advertisement "85A" By Kyle Thomas Smith Bascom Hill Publishing Group, 223 pages, 14.95 At first, Seamus O'Grady, the protagonist of "85A," is really hard to like. He swears like a sailor and seems annoyed by everything and everyone around him. But slowly, as pages and chapters unfold, his harsh personality fades and the fact that, at 15, he is still so young and naive begins to dawn on readers. By the end of the book, I found myself not necessarily wanting to be Seamus' friend, but wanting to call him up, offer him some advice and, hopefully, be the one to turn his life around. "85A" is Kyle Thomas Smith's debut novel, which is exciting because of the quality of the work, but also because of the new voice that the literary world has gained in Smith. The setting of "85A" is Chicago on January 23, 1989, just days after George H.W. Bush was inaugurated as the 41st President of the United States. The novel follows Seamus through a life-changing day - from the biting cold of the early morning wind he endures while waiting for the bus to his final demerit at his south side high school to the next morning when he embarks a journey that will forever change his life. Whether that will be a good or bad change is left for the reader to ponder. While the main story is of the present day, most of the book is taken up by flashbacks to earlier times in Seamus' life. The large number of recollections makes the present plot a bit hard to follow, but the detail put into these memories and the way they artfully reveal new sides to Seamus is almost enough to forgive that fact. Right away readers learn of Seamus' tough family life. He is constantly disappointing his conservative parents and forever standing in the shadow of his 'golden boy' brother, Brody. In one of his first flashbacks, Seamus recalls trying to commit suicide because of what he sees as his impossible existence at home. From then on Seamus' troubles seem to grow. He doesn't get along with anyone at school or in his neighborhood. He has one best friend, Tressa, a very smart, talented, part African-American girl that he meets when she stops a group of boys from beating him up one night. Under her guidance Seamus, who is failing almost every subject in school, focuses and reads classic works, watches old movies and listens to Mozart. Here readers see that Seamus physically can learn, but isn't finding the right teachers or outlets to so at his school. Referring to the books that Tressa and her mother, Agatha, give him to read, Seamus says: "I don't finish reading them all, but I do get a good way through them and I look up all the words I don't know and write their definitions down on flashcards and study them instead of studying my biology book or doing homework. I'm a helluva lot more scared of flunking one of Tressa's or Agatha's pop quizzes than I am of flunking any midterms or finals at a school that's flunking me out anyways." Tressa is easily the most likeable character in this book. She has her life together at a young age and readers get the sense that she will be able to do whatever she wants when she graduates. The closeness between Seamus and Tressa makes readers wonder if this is the beginning of a relationship between the two, but when it is revealed that they have actually tried to have sex and failed, those hopes are quickly dashed. This leads readers to find out that Seamus is probably gay. I say probably because it is not something that he ever says outright, but is obvious in his crush on a boy named Colby, whom he met one night on a train platform, and in his relations with his therapist Dr. Strykeroth. Dr. Strykeroth is one of the only other people that Seamus finds himself able to talk with , but, in some of their later encounters, inappropriate sexual activity between the two is fairly obviously laid out. Later in the book, Seamus blackmails Strykeroth into giving him money to keep quiet about what happened during their meetings. Considering the story is told through the eyes of Seamus, the descriptions of his sexuality leave something to be desired. Readers have his encounters explained, but never hear what Seamus himself thinks about these encounters, which leaves readers with questions such as does he understand what he is doing, why exactly does he have this intense attraction to Colby and what are his general feelings about what happens with Dr. Strykeroth. Throughout it all, Seamus has one goal: to get to London, the hometown of his punk-rock hero Johnny Rotten. "They're more open-minded there," Seamus says. "Their punks do it to the fuckin' hilt. I hear it's so bosses won't hire them and they can go on living off government relief. Even when it comes to non-punks, though, I love the way people look in London." Until he gets there, Seamus is relegated to Chicago, which acts like another character in the book. The streets, people and places are so wonderfully detailed that readers can almost feel the second city's wind on their cheeks. One of my favorite references in this vein is when Seamus describes getting off at the Damen L stop. "The sidewalks were jagged and littered with shit like Quarter Pounder wrappers, greasy French fry holders, last week's stomped-on newspaper pages, rusty bicycle chains, a Speed Racer action figure that some kid must've dropped from his stroller, shit and piss from stray dogs, and a mud-caked little pink teddy bear on the curb, wearing a little white T-Shirt with a Valentine heart on it." The back cover of the book describes Seamus a cross between Holden Caulfield and Johnny Rotten, which I find to be an unfortunate comparison. Caulfield is more normal (in general societal terms) than Seamus. Caulfield has parents that readers can empathize with because they seem, to Caulfield's chagrin, to be caring and truly worried about their son. In Seamus' case, as readers' find out in the last pages, his parents and brother get very physical with him, shaving his head and knocking him around the kitchen like a ragdoll. Unlike Caulfield, who really just seems to be going through a bout of teen angst, Seamus has serious problems that, despite therapy, haven't been dealt with. Seamus gets the last laugh, though, by skipping out on his parent's punishment and hightailing it to an Amtrak station. In an ending that smacks me of Lois Lowry's "The Giver," it is up to readers to decide where Seamus ends up and how he fairs in that new locale. Considering how close I find myself to Seamus at the end of the novel, I certainly hope he lands in London and can finally find the happiness (or help) that he deserves. cocrowder@tribune.com Copyright © 2010, Chicago Tribune
On a subzero Chicago morning on January 23, 1989, 15-year-old punk rocker Seamus O'Grady braves the bitter cold at the 85A bus stop, railing against his repressive environment in anticipation of his "the-minute-I-turn-18" move to London. No library descriptions found. |
LibraryThing Early Reviewers AlumKyle Thomas Smith's book 85 A was available from LibraryThing Early Reviewers.  Current DiscussionsNonePopular covers
 Google Books — Loading...GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.6Literature English (North America) American fiction 21st CenturyLC ClassificationRatingAverage: (3.69)
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Wikipedia in English
1
Truer words were never spoken.
If one were to rely solely on images presented by the mainstream US media, it would seem that there’s only one type of gay male - an effete, well-manicured, sarcastic fashionista who is equally well-versed in Broadway showtunes as he is in the films of Hollywood’s golden age. But, y’know, the world is a pretty big place and I suspect there are a lot more colors in the rainbow flag than just shocking pink.
And that’s where 85A, Kyle Thomas Smith’s fantastic novel with its irrepressible protagonist Seamus O’Grady, comes in.
This is a whirlwind of a book about a disaffected young punk riding the bus one wintry day in Chicago ruminating on his miserable existence and making big plans for his future. Seamus is no stereotype. It’s 1989 and, forget Judy Garland, he worships at the altar of Johnny Rotten and hopes to be a playwright in London as soon as he’s old enough to strike out on his own. His only two social contacts are his best friend Tressa, a tough and sexy bi-racial girl equally at home listening to Mozart or Social Distortion and his "therapist" Dr. Strykeroth a creepy middle aged man with whom he maintains a rather disturbing relationship.
While it would be easy to compare this to Catcher in the Rye, because certainly there are similarities in structure and tone, Seamus is very different than Holden Caulfied in that his problems are more serious than merely a fear of growing up. And while those problems cover the typical catalogue of woes that plague teens in every other LGBT coming of age story - homophobic bullies, unsympathetic teachers and religious zealot parents, the character himself is totally unique.
The language is gritty and realistic. Smith perfectly captures the rambling, rude voice of an adolescent punk. And you don’t have to be gay to relate to this character, by any means. Anyone who was a misfit in high school should be able to see themselves in his desperate desire to reinvent himself with a cool new persona. I found myself cringing with recognition when Seamus feigns a cockney accent to impress his big crush only to be met with derision and mockery by the boy’s friends. Very funny, but just a little bit heartbreaking. Like so much of youth.
I only have a couple of issues with what is otherwise a wonderful book. As with many other LGBT novels, I found the antagonists were portrayed with too heavy a hand. Seamus’s parents, for instance, might have been more effective if the characterizations were a bit more subtle and less clichéd. And a lengthy tract addressing how arts education might encourage marginal students to take more of an interest in their studies, sounded less like a fifteen year old reprobate and more like the author sharing his opinions. But, all in all, this is a refreshingly different novel from a talented writer who I intend to keep my eyes on. (